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Fly in the ointment

When U.S. air traffic was grounded for three days after September 11th, meterologists got a bit of a surprise. Apparently, the lack of airplane contrails -- the high altitude trails of condensed water that form around tiny particles from engine exhaust -- had a measurable effect on the climate. (More in this document.) Apparently, contrails reflect sunlight during the day, but also trap heat at night. On net, researchers believe that contrails can have two to three times as much climate-warming power as the CO2 emitted in airplane exhaust.

Now, the L.A. Times is reporting on a study by a British research team that found that the biggest contrail impacts come from nighttime flights (when contrails reflect solar radiation back to the earth's surface) and during winter months.

"We get one-half of the climate effect from one-quarter of the year, from less than one-quarter of the air traffic," said meteorologist Nicola Stuber, who led the English research team. "If you get rid of the night flights, you can reduce the climate warming effect of the contrails."

The quick fix: a few schedule changes. A bit inconvenient, perhaps, but hardly inconceivable.

Not much going on.

Hangin' in St. Louis for my three-hour layover. No hottie musician-type sightings to report.

Move Thyself: “Kingdom of bicycles” experiencing identity crisis

So, in case you haven't heard, China's economy has been growing a wee bit. The boom has fueled growth in incomes and is largely responsible for the attendant explosive growth in auto sales and use. Huge growth. The number of cars has grown over 20 times since 1978 and is expected to balloon another five times still by 2020.

Meanwhile, bicycle ridership has fallen at roughly the same rate as auto use has grown, and city planners and officials, eager to keep the boom booming, even at great public cost, have been planning to welcome the auto's continued growth and popularity with more roads.

And though the U.S. still out-cars (and out-roads) China by a wide margin, China's rapid growth has led to bicycles literally being left by the wayside. Urban planning has turned them into seeming second-class forms of transport. (This sounds familiar, America. As Ginsberg might have said: "America, you've given cars all and now cyclists are nothing.")

But back to China. As the Guardian puts it:

Having spent the past decade pursuing a transport policy of four wheels rich, two wheels poor, the Chinese government has suddenly rediscovered the environmental and health benefits of the bicycle.

As described in the state media, apparently the government is finally trying to do something about the unhealthy shift to autos.

China's Vice Minister of Construction, Qiu Baoxing, has lashed [out] at city authorities for making it harder for cyclists to get around, saying the country should retain its title as the "kingdom of bicycles."

Hawaii Islands Win Unprecedented Protection

In the last five years, I can count on one hand the number of times environmental groups have come together to praise a new policy by President Bush -- and that one hand was probably making a fist. So for the ocean conservation community to be celebrating the president's announcement today, you know this is a VERY big deal.

George W. Bush is designating the world's largest fully protected marine reserve -- 84 million acres to be exact. A biologically rich string of islands known as the Northwestern Hawaii Islands (NWHI) will now enjoy complete federal protection from commercial fishing activities as a new National Monument. This is fantastic news for the seals, turtles, albatrosses, sharks, corals, and other marine life that call these waters home, and a strange, welcome, happy, confusing moment for conservationists everywhere. Congratulations to our colleagues who worked so hard to make this happen, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Ocean Conservancy, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Environmental Defense, and especially all the groups in Hawaii. Read all about it.

Blogging from Bonnaroo

By the time you read this, I'll be at a comfortable cruising altitude -- and spewing CO2 into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. (Calm down ... I've offset the flight. Thanks, Native Energy!) I'm on my way to the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tenn., and not for the reasons you think. The four-day, multi-stage festival is cleaning up its act -- like a number of music festivals this year -- and making a real effort to be as green as possible ... no, not that kind of green ...

Anyway, I'll be rockin' the scene all weekend: interviewing eco-minded bands, snooping through recycling bins, hitting on hottie musician-types, checking out the solar-powered stage, and in general being way cooler than you.

Oh, and did I mention I'll be camping there? Which is quite funny actually ... seeing as how I've never camped. Like, ever. But I'm sure it's not that big of a deal, right? I mean, you just stick the little tent-pole thingies into the tent-loop thingies and voilá: you're camping! I mean, right?

Thankfully (or perhaps not), assuming I can get wifi/cell service -- and barring any tent-pole related mishaps -- you'll be able to live vicariously through me as I update the blog throughout the festival. Stay tuned!

How my father taught me to leave cars behind

When my husband and I moved back to Montana three years ago, I fantasized about living far from town. We’d settle outside the city boundaries, where the Milky Way sparkles clear as a river and red-tailed hawks bank over bunchgrass meadows. My (imaginary) dogs could run over our five acres, frolicking in the ponderosa pines. […]

Energy security and global warming: different

Speaking of "energy security," I give you Reuters:

World leaders must not allow concern for energy security to distract them from taking promised action on global warming, top world scientists said on Wednesday.

Climate change solutions agreed at the G8 summit in Scotland a year ago risked being pushed off the agenda at next month's G8 summit in Russia by worries about security of energy supply, they said.

Credit where credit is due

Good for Bush:

President Bush plans to designate an island chain spanning nearly 1,400 miles of the Pacific northwest of Hawaii as a national monument today, creating the largest protected marine reserve in the world, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Establishing the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a strictly protected marine reserve, which Bush is slated to announce this afternoon, could prove to be the administration's most enduring environmental legacy. The roughly 100-mile-wide area encompasses a string of uninhabited islands that support more than 7,000 marine species, at least a fourth of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

Revkin on Fresh Air

Don't miss NYT enviro reporter Andy Revkin on NPR's Fresh Air.

The Mustache and GM, again

A few days ago I noted that GM had responded to Thomas Friedman's attack. Today, Friedman responds to the response, and continues to beat GM around the head and shoulders.

Sadly, all this takes place behind the dread NYT Select wall, so you'll just have to take my word for it.